Comments

Alan,
This is an interesting observation. To find our more about the fungus I put the name of the fungus into Google and guess what? Your observation on iSpot was the top hit! Searching further down and surfing a bit it seems that beech (and all trees in fact) harbour dozens of (so-called endophytic) fungi in their healthy tissues, of which I think Ascodichaena rugosum may be an example. It seems that such fungi can cause disease in certain circumstances, but otherwise can be beneficial or benign. Its a complicated business, so exactly what the status of this particular fungus is, I don't know. Maybe you do? Anyhow, as an OU student you can access a review of this subject through our library if you want to follow it up. The reference is:
Sieber, T. N. Endophytic fungi in forest trees: are they mutualists? Fungal Biology Reviews, 21, 75-89.

I tried the link again, and this time succeed in 'logging on'. However, I have not been able to access 'Sieber, T. N. Endophytic fungi in forest trees: are they mutualists? Fungal Biology Reviews, 21, 75-89.' yet, despite pasting the title into the search facility.

OK. what you have to do is search for the journal by name first, so paste 'Fungal Biology Reviews' into the search box. This will then produce a hit (I hope!) with a link to that journal. Click through to it and navigate your way to the relevant issue (Vol 21, page 75) in 2007. Once there you can either read it online or click the pdf link to download a copy to read or print out. Good luck!

Googling finds more hits if the correct name is used. it's Ascodichaena rugosa. With latin binomials the epithet is declined with the same gender as the genus, unless it's a noun in apposition, which this isn't. The anamorph state is called Polycoccum rugosum.

Having edited the spelling, I did try the 'get recommended' button for the english name with no result. (My spelling was taken from a Forestry Commission photograph title which seemed to me to be the same species).

That's no doubt because there is no English name, but I think the software still checks for a match of the scientific name against the species dictionary, which helps to ensure that the spelling is correct. Since there is now a link to the NBN map, all is well.